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[Problems making VISTANA reservations - official thread]

DannyTS

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No availability for Lagunamar checking in on Dec 21 2019, tonight. I tried until 1:15 am, but nothing showed up. Will have to call in the morning.

Markus

my understanding is that only 50% of the 51-52 weeks at Lagunamar were sold as event weeks. The rest should be open to platinum owners. So there should be 150 studios and 150 one bedroom condos available for both weeks. It is hard to me to believe that there are that many owners trying to get one of these 600 condos since most have already planned for next year and booked already (like myself)

It is obvious to me what is happening: Vistina is keeping all these 300 condos and rents them out. How is this a fair business practice? How is this not unjust enrichment?

As I stated before, i am not too interested at this moment in those weeks, i think they are too busy for us to enjoy staying there. I am surprised though others are not asking Vistana for a breakdown of available condos between owners and Vistana to see if they keep more than they should.
 
Last edited:

blondietink

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We had a conversation with our favorite pool concierge during our last visit and he told us to never go to Lagunamar during Christmas, February break and/or Easter week. He said people literally sleep on the loungers by the pool to save them. They have rows upon rows of loungers, so many that you can't walk through them to the pool. Doesn't sound much like a vacation to me.
 

DannyTS

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We had a conversation with our favorite pool concierge during our last visit and he told us to never go to Lagunamar during Christmas, February break and/or Easter week. He said people literally sleep on the loungers by the pool to save them. They have rows upon rows of loungers, so many that you can't walk through them to the pool. Doesn't sound much like a vacation to me.
That may be true.
At the same time, what options do people with kids have? The best time to go to the Caribbean and Mexico is November to May. The reason why 51 52 and spring break are so busy is because some people have no other choice but to go when kids are on vacation.

But let's be clear, If Vistana takes all the 51-52 weeks available in order to rent them for a nice profit, they do not do it to do you a favor but for their own good.
 

DannyTS

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Markus

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Any luck? I had the same experience last night (and the night before) - no availability for ANY size unit right at midnight.
No luck on the phone. The staff do not understand the situation and the fact that at least 50% of the resort should have been available.
 

TravelTime

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Deleted - found answer above
 

DannyTS

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SMHarman

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my understanding is that only 50% of the 51-52 weeks at Lagunamar were sold as event weeks. The rest should be open to platinum owners. So there should be 150 studios and 150 one bedroom condos available for both weeks. It is hard to me to believe that there are that many owners trying to get one of these 600 condos since most have already planned for next year and booked already (like myself)

It is obvious to me what is happening: Vistina is keeping all these 300 condos and rents them out. How is this a fair business practice? How is this not unjust enrichment?

As I stated before, i am not too interested at this moment in those weeks, i think they are too busy for us to enjoy staying there. I am surprised though others are not asking Vistana for a breakdown of available condos between owners and Vistana to see if they keep more than they should.
It's not that simple. The rules for phase 1 and 2 are different to 3 and 4. That said zero is unusual. Further I believe that Vistana don't have the ability to do fully as you suspect without breaking bylaws though who would audit or enforce that, their VVN appointed board?
 

maph

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From the Ownership Documents, available through the Vistana website;

Phase One Vacation Unit means a Vacation Unit numbered 0431 through 0486; a Vacation Unit numbered 0531 through 0588, a Vacation Unit numbered 0621 through 0686 or a Vacation Unit numbered 0721 through 0786.

Phase one is only buildings 4, 5, 6, and 7.

Also from the docs;

For Phase One Vacation Units, no more than 50% of the Vacation Ownership Interests in each Vacation Week shall be designated as Ultra Premium, Fixed, or Event. For Phase Two, Three and Four Vacation Units, the Vacation Weeks including Christmas and New Year’s Day will be sold exclusively as Event Weeks.

50% of the units in the four buildings, or roughly 2 buildings out of 14 (about 14%), should have weeks 51 and 52 available to Platinum+ owners. It's not 25%, but still a fair number of 51 & 52 weeks should be showing up for booking.
 

margolism

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Would this also mean that not all Platinum Plus owners can book weeks 51 or 52? For example, let's say a PP owner is deeded with a unit NOT in phase 1 - are these owners excluded from booking weeks 51 and 52? How does that work?

My deeded unit number falls within Phase 1 and I was still unable to book anything for weeks 51 or 52 this year at EXACTLY midnight.

From the Ownership Documents, available through the Vistana website;

Phase One Vacation Unit means a Vacation Unit numbered 0431 through 0486; a Vacation Unit numbered 0531 through 0588, a Vacation Unit numbered 0621 through 0686 or a Vacation Unit numbered 0721 through 0786.

Phase one is only buildings 4, 5, 6, and 7.

Also from the docs;

For Phase One Vacation Units, no more than 50% of the Vacation Ownership Interests in each Vacation Week shall be designated as Ultra Premium, Fixed, or Event. For Phase Two, Three and Four Vacation Units, the Vacation Weeks including Christmas and New Year’s Day will be sold exclusively as Event Weeks.

50% of the units in the four buildings, or roughly 2 buildings out of 14 (about 14%), should have weeks 51 and 52 available to Platinum+ owners. It's not 25%, but still a fair number of 51 & 52 weeks should be showing up for booking.
 

maph

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Would this also mean that not all Platinum Plus owners can book weeks 51 or 52? For example, let's say a PP owner is deeded with a unit NOT in phase 1 - are these owners excluded from booking weeks 51 and 52? How does that work?

My deeded unit number falls within Phase 1 and I was still unable to book anything for weeks 51 or 52 this year at EXACTLY midnight.

As far as I know there is nothing in the governing documents that say you are restricted to only those units within your phase. I've never tried to book 51 or 52 (I own OS & there aren't any phase 1 OS units) but it certainly seems that there should be something available. In the past I've had problems with booking my WKORV OFC unit at midnight & was able to get technical support at Vistana to track exactly what happened when I was making the booking & find what I was doing wrong. Maybe that could work for you?
 

cindylou

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Anyone else not able to get into Vistana reservations right now? I get "Please try again later, we are sorry for the inconvenience."
 

controller1

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Anyone else not able to get into Vistana reservations right now? I get "Please try again later, we are sorry for the inconvenience."

Just logged in with no problem.
 

Denise L

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I was also able to log in without a problem. But it took a bit of time before my confirmation window popped up. Obviously it is a busy time to book, or else the processing servers are slow.
 

suzannesimon

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Anyone else not able to get into Vistana reservations right now? I get "Please try again later, we are sorry for the inconvenience."


I got that last March trying to book Kierland Villas. I tried every 5 minutes until 1:45 EST and finally got my week. Persistent pays off!
 

DavidnRobin

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No problem last night (9pm PST) in reserving WKORV (OFD studio) for 2020 Prez Day week.


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critterchick

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Anyone else not able to get into Vistana reservations right now? I get "Please try again later, we are sorry for the inconvenience."

We had no problem getting in, looking for Presidents Day next year. DH thought he had grabbed a 1BR at Nanea, but the “checking eligibility” wheel spun endlessly and finally gave an error message. When he went back, less than one minute, and tried again, all of the 1BR were gone. I was logged in on my computer and was able to snag a 1BR at WKORV. They were gone by 9:10 PST.

I know demand is high for President’s Day on Maui (Princeville is still available today), but I suspect that some of the activity is on Vistana’s part. I checked for a week on January 25 at Nanea. No 1BR available, but if I go to the Marriott website, I can book it for money. I’m sure this has been discussed before, but I think they should give owners more time to book before they turn it over to revenue.
 

Dawnwrey

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I had no problem Wednesday night booking presidents week 2020 at WKORVN.
 

DavidnRobin

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We had no problem getting in, looking for Presidents Day next year. DH thought he had grabbed a 1BR at Nanea, but the “checking eligibility” wheel spun endlessly and finally gave an error message. When he went back, less than one minute, and tried again, all of the 1BR were gone. I was logged in on my computer and was able to snag a 1BR at WKORV. They were gone by 9:10 PST.

I know demand is high for President’s Day on Maui (Princeville is still available today), but I suspect that some of the activity is on Vistana’s part. I checked for a week on January 25 at Nanea. No 1BR available, but if I go to the Marriott website, I can book it for money. I’m sure this has been discussed before, but I think they should give owners more time to book before they turn it over to revenue.

They own their own inventory (plus other minor ways that they obtain inventory this far out).

Unless they raise rental rates for Prez Day week (and other peak times) - their motivation is low to hoard inventory of ultra prime weeks. As they have minor obstacles in using their weeks.


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DeniseM

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I know demand is high for President’s Day on Maui (Princeville is still available today), but I suspect that some of the activity is on Vistana’s part. I checked for a week on January 25 at Nanea. No 1BR available, but if I go to the Marriott website, I can book it for money. I’m sure this has been discussed before, but I think they should give owners more time to book before they turn it over to revenue.

That's not how it works actually:

-Vistana can rent any inventory that belongs to them - for instantance deeds they own, any weeks that the owners have converted to hotel points, foreclosed deeds, etc.

-At 60 days before check in, Vistana can Hoover up any unreserved inventory - but not a year before.

-They cannot rent inventory that is in the owner's inventory bucket, until 60 days before check-in.
 

DavidnRobin

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As compared to the initial rollout of the reservation system for Prez week at WKORV/N.
The systems seems to be able handle the load (comparatively)


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mauitraveler

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Anyone else not able to get into Vistana reservations right now? I get "Please try again later, we are sorry for the inconvenience."
cindylou,
Sorry to hear that you had difficulties getting in. Were you able to finally get in and book a reservation? Are you going to try again tonight? I had to do that last year and ended up getting a Sunday check-in date. I also kept checking for about a week just in case someone cancelled a Saturday check-in. CJ
 
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